The movement of the human soul, and human society in general, from its fallen chaotic state towards divine order is at the heart of the Blog of Padre Pio Press. Writings, ponderings, and reflections on this movement of the soul are authored by Fr. Cliff Ermatinger and by the occasional Guest Contributor. The articles and recordings are relegated to the following areas:
Throughout the Month of September,
Padre Pio Press Cordially Invites Its Readership to Join In Saying:
Litany of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows
St. Augustine, How Does Increasing Prayer Increase Faith?
Question 035.
So there seem to be degrees of faith. Can we say that the degree of faith we have is determined by our degree of prayer?
Consider the Apostles: they would never have left all they had, trodden this world’s hopes underfoot, and followed the Lord if their faith were not great. And yet, if their faith were perfect, they would not have said to the Lord, “increase our faith.”… “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” ‘I believe’ there was faith. But, ‘help my unbelief’: therefore, this was an imperfect faith.
from St. Augustine Answers 101 Questions on Prayer by Fr. Ermatinger.
St. Augustine, How Does Temptation Relate to Prayer?
Question 034.
Christ says, Watch and pray, that you do not fall into temptation. What is the relation between prayer and temptation?
What is to enter into temptation but to fail in faith? Temptation advances as faith lets up. And temptation yields as faith advances… He who fights prays, and would not he who is in danger pray?
from St. Augustine Answers 101 Questions on Prayer by Fr. Ermatinger.
Just as entering into faith is to be a participant in the action of faith, entering into temptation is to be a participant in the temptation. It is important at this juncture to delineate between the hearing through […]
Third Sunday After Easter — Homily by Fr. Ermatinger
Audio In Full Post
Second Class – The Parting. “Thus part we rich in sorrow, parting poor”, Abraham Solomon, 1855
Transcription of Homily
Translation of the Epistle for the Third Sunday after Easter:
Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, to refrain yourselves from carnal desires which war against the soul, Having your conversation good among the Gentiles: that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by the good works which they shall behold in you, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for God’s sake: whether it be to the king as excelling, Or to governors as sent by him for the punishment […]
St. Augustine, Is Faith More Than the Source of Prayer?
Question 033.
So faith is merely the source of prayer?
For St. Augustine, faith is more than prayer’s source. It is certainly more than trusting that his prayers are heard… God alone knows the things of God in their fullness… But he does communicate something of himself to man, and that is precisely the content of Augustine’s faith…Although we are deprived of the vision of God, giving our mortal state, we do attain it to a certain extent by faith.
from St. Augustine Answers 101 Questions on Prayer by Fr. Ermatinger.
Thanks to Luther, it has become common parlance to speak of faith as a species of […]
